It’s time to bring out the suncream – forecasters believe Thursday will be the hottest day of the year so far.
Parts of Suffolk and north Essex are to bask in temperatures of up to 26C this week – with inland towns and villages set to be the warmest.
According to Weatherquest expert Dan Holley, the mercury is due to rocket up to a maximum 22C on Wednesday before reaching a peak of 25C on Thursday.
Air temperatures will cool to 23C on Friday.
If temperatures do soar as predicted, it will make parts of the region hotter than the Mediterranean and northern Africa.
Cities such as Athens and African countries like Kenya and Morocco can expect to see mid-week peaks of 23C or 24C.
Meanwhile, over the border it could be even hotter – with Essex Weather Centre predicting spells of unbroken sunshine from Wednesday onwards.
Experts at the facility tweeted: “Week ahead – becoming very warm for the time of year with high UV and pollen levels.
“Unbroken sunshine from mid-week and temperatures peaking 24-26C inland, although much cooler towards the Essex coast.”
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said that nationally, Britain will be “turning warmer for a little time” as hotter air is dragged up from the south, causing temperatures to rise as high as 25C by Thursday.
With cloud and rain poised to affect Wales, northern and western England, Scotland and Northern Ireland over Monday night and into Tuesday, he warned it could be “quite windy in the west”.
Mr Burkill said the best of sunshine and warmth on Tuesday will be in the South East, where temperatures of 18C or 19C could be recorded.
“It is not out of the question that we can get 20C tomorrow – which I believe would make it the warmest day of the year so far,” he told the Press Association.
“On Wednesday it will be mostly dry and rather sunny for most places, but there will be some rain affecting Northern Ireland, Scotland and perhaps some parts of northern England too.
“But for many central and eastern parts of the UK it is going to be a dry and very sunny day and, with that, temperatures creeping up as well.”
This latest weather prediction follows a long and unrelenting winter – the worst of which was seen in late February and early March.
Widespread snow and disruption was swept in from Siberia in what was dubbed the Beast from the East.
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